The Illusion of Blood
by isillome
Summary: Luffy knows he is gone and yet it wont go away. Its there dripping and staining his mind with insanity.


I do not own One piece all rights and characters belong to Oda-sama

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><p>Images flashed through his mind. His eyes moved quickly behind the lids and his hands clenched and unclenched. Rayleigh looked on with worry. He know what the boy had gone through during the separation of his crew and the capture of his brother. It wasn't hard to guess what had happened when he arrived to where the Heart pirates where and no sign of Portgas D. Ace.<p>

It was hard to lose the one you loved and cherished he was sure. But to hold on to the memories of it was not going to help this future king move forward. Standing the dark king made his way over to the now tossing and turning teen. Bending to a knee he placed a hand on a ice cold shoulder and the sadness for Luffy grew. He wasn't 8 feet from the fire and he was freezing.

"Luffy." He did not wake. Instead he ripped his shoulder from the grasp and rolled to the side. Now Rayleigh could only see his shaking back. "Luffy. It is only a nightmare you must wake."

"Ace.."

The whisper was soft and hoarse but echoed though the clearing. _Ah so he was dreaming of his dead brother._

"Ace is dead." He wasn't going to sugar coat this not even to let him have some nice dream. It would be worse to have a dream you never wanted to wake up from then a dream you wanted to sleep in forever.

Luffy pulled his legs up into his stomach and wrapped his arms around himself, he was only a ball now protecting himself from the voice of reality.

"Ace wont come back." The voice that broke wasn't Rayleigh and he looked on in shock as Luffy straightened himself into a sitting position. _He was just sleeping wasn't he? _Upon closer inspection he noticed that Luffy was in fact not fully awake yet. His eyes were clouded and unfocused like someone blind trying to see. His pupils highly dilated stared unblinkingly into the fire moving every few seconds as the fire moved with the wind.

Sighing Rayleigh moved back to his spot opposite of the boy and leaned back against the tree. _How does one help a broken mind?"_

Bring his gaze up at a sudden movement he saw Luffy trying to get steady on his feet. His eyes were still unfocused but the unnatural sheen to them was dimmed. He had some consciences. "Oi! Where are you going at this time of night?"

"I'll be back. Don't worry I'll beat any one who tries to take me on." His voice didn't hold the happiness and determination it usually did. It was dead, plain, neutral. Rayleigh wondered if he would really fight back in this kind of state. He did not want to be an overbearing person and try to chain him down but this island was dangerous. He was sure he would know if something went wrong with his haki.

Luffy walked through the under leaf without a clear destination of where he wanted to go. But he did know that his mind and body refused to stay near that fire. It reminded him to much of-

Flashes of the battlefield crossed his mind and he clenched his eyes shut. Falling to his knees beside a brook from the sudden force of pain riddling his body and mind.

Bringing a hand to his face he tried to rid the tears that were collecting on the corners of his eyes with pressure from the palm of his eyes. It made him see more red.

Pulling his hands away he stared at his hands that were clean and unblemished. But he just saw red. So much red. Dripping from his fingertips and his wrist, running down his arm and hitting the ground with a sickening drop. His eyes grew wider and wider and whispers of "No, no, no" repeatedly fell from his chapped lips.

He tried rubbing them onto the new vest he wore but it didn't help. More blood flowed from his hands in an endless flow. He was beginning to feel the warmth of the blood that shouldn't be there. The blood was now on his vest, his shorts, it was everywhere. Just like then.

Next to him the brook ran softly into the night and lulled most day creatures to sleep. The sudden splashing that could be hear would've woken those creatures instantly. Plunging his hands into the frigged water didn't even make him blink. He didn't feel the pricks and needles biting into his skin and the skin under the illusion slowly turning blue. All Luffy wanted to do was get the blood off him.

"There's so much, so much blood, Aces blood..." Dulled and a whisper he used his nails to scratch off the blood creating red lines and raised skin across the back of his hands and the palms. The rocks right under the surface was now being used as a brush, scrubbing the hands on the hard top. It helped rid the blood some what but now Luffy couldn't tell the difference between his and his dead brothers.

Exhaustion started to seep into his brain and the rubbing that was so viscous a little while ago slowed to weak and half willed movements. The skin hanging in chunks and real blood pouring down his fingertips and mingling with the brook. Taking his hands from the water he closed his eyes folded himself into a ball with his shredded hands clasp close to his chest.

Luffy struggled to keep his eyes open. He was afraid to go back asleep. But he knew that he would no matter what. In his dreams Ace was alive. Even for a moment. He got to see Aces face again.

"I'll see you again soon Ace."


End file.
